Into The Woods
by Bushee
Summary: Simon and Baz are forced to be camping buddies for a while... Baz is in love. Simon is oblivious. They're sharing a tent.
1. Road Trip

**Baz**

I'm just about ready to shoot my own foot when the Mage makes his announcement.

The entirety of Watford's six, seven and eighth year magicians are completely screwed. Apparently, we're going on a bloody trip to some site in the woods, one about as far from campus as you can get.

Let me tell you that I fail to see the purpose of how exactly this will be beneficial to any of the magicians attending Watford. Honestly, my best guess is that the Mage is done with our shit, and wants us to get the hell off of campus for a few days to be babysat.

After I hear the words 'campsite' and 'woods' my brain shuts off and I'm no longer listening to what the Mage is rambling about.

Because I know pretty damn well how screwed I am.

If the Mage means to send us over to the woods to sing campfire songs and hold hands, for crowley knows how long, we're going to need sleeping arrangements. I'm just waiting for him to announce that we'll be stuck with our same roommates we have here at Watford.

You know what that means for me, I have to share a cabin with the love of my life, bloody Simon Snow. _Shit._

Thank the Lord we're dismissed of today's classes, but we have to pack. We're leaving _tomorrow._

I'm have my head in a drawer when I hear the door open, and the person who could only be Simon walk in and drop his things by his bed.

I turn around and start putting some t-shirts in my bag, not even giving him a glance.

"Snow." I say.

"Baz." He says. Then plops down on his bed with an exaggerated sigh.

"We're stuck in a bloody cabin together for a while, aren't we now Snow?

He ignores me and walks into the bathroom, then re-enters holding a few toiletries for the trip.

"We're not in a cabin Baz." I can hear him shuffling things around in his bag. "We're going to be sharing a tent."

 _What the fuck._ "Oh fuck no." What can I say? Sometimes I speak my mind. He whirls around. "You think I'm happy about this, Baz? Because I'm not exactly jumping up and down." He turns back to his bed and continues packing.

I snort. "Not like anyone wants you rolling around with Wellbelove either, Snow."

 **Simon**

The magicians file out of campus bright and early the next morning. Can't say that I was too happy about that.

Someone's reading out the bus list. "Simon Snow and Basilton Pitch!" I trudge over to the doors of the bus. The girl reading off of the list looks up through her glasses at Baz and I.

"You two will be paired for the entirety of this trip, activities included. I want you seated next to each other on this bus, and I'm sure that you're already aware of sleeping arrangements…" She drags her finger along the list and calls the next names.

I crawl into our seat, -which is near the back of the bus, and dump my bag on the ground where I can rest my feet.

I'm not about to strike up conversation with Baz -who settles in next to me, so I rest my head on the window and go to sleep.

 **Baz**

Simon falls asleep about twenty seconds in to this road trip we're calling 'educational', but I'm not complaining. I tilt my head to the side and lean it on the seat.

To anyone, it will look as if I'm enjoying the view of the outdoors. To me, it looks like a beautiful sleeping Snow.

I start to feel tired myself after staring for a while, and my eyelids begin to droop. It doesn't even register in my mind when the bus hits a bump and Simon's eyes fly open, to find me staring at him.

By the time my mind catches up with me, I blink a few times and look the other way, as if nothing happened. I caught the way his eyes widened when he realized I was staring.

 **Simon**

Baz watches me sleep? Does he always do that?

He just… turned away. Not even a sneer, or a scowl, or a snort. "Baz!" I whisper-yell. He turns back around -and there it is, the signature scowl.

I continue my whisper-yelling. "Why the fuck were you just watching me sleep!"

He lets out a breathy laugh. "Wouldn't you like to know."

 **Baz**

Wouldn't he like to know.

I turn back around because I can only take so much pretend-to-hate-the-bloody-love-of-your-life in a day.

Simon grumbles to himself but eventually gets over it. I close my eyes and realize why people sleep during long travels like this. Crowley knows I need some sleep -and to get my thoughts off of Simon.

He's waiting for me in my dreams.

 **Simon**

The bus rolls to a stop a few hours later. The view is actually really beautiful. Rocky mountains and grassy hilltops for miles.

Then my eyes find the crappy site we'll be camping at.

I sigh and turn around, then jump because I'd nearly forgotten Baz was here… and asleep. I have to wake him up.

I lean over to his ear. "Wake up, little vampire." His eyes fly open and he says _fuck_ maybe a little too loudly. The people sitting close to us snicker. He gives me the finger and it makes me smirk.

I can see why Baz finds pissing me off this amusing.

 **Baz**

It's nearly dark when we arrive, and you know what that means! It's sleepy time bye-bye for all of us! I have to share a tent with Simon Snow! I want to die!

Turns out Simon can't put up a tent for shit. Neither can I, not that I tried.

"Cast a spell, will you?" I tell him as wave my hand at the tent. It's so cute when he gets all frustrated. "Why don't you?" He says.

I laugh. "Because you need the practice! Go on now." He grumbles and pulls his wand out of his pocket, pointing it at the pile that is our soon-to-be tent. The one that I'm going to be sharing with Simon against my own will.

I can see that his hand is shaking as he points his wand. Tears prick at his eyes. The only reason I'm able to tell is because of the sun setting, conveniently lighting up his face, and the tears that are probably blurring his vision.

 _I feel bad._

I can't say I don't because I really do. "Stop." I say. He begins blinking rapidly, a failed attempt at keeping his unshed tears from escaping.

Soon enough a few stray tears roll down his face, but he whips around so he's facing away from me to wipe them away. I grab my wand and spell the tent together.

Then I turn back around to where Simon stood. He shoves past me into the tent, and doesn't look at me for the rest of the night.


	2. Tent Buddies

**Baz**

You should know that I had a very difficult time finding sleep last night.

When Simon stormed off into the tent (which I felt particularly guilty about) he took up more than his share of the rather small tent we were provided with.

Simon was out like a light the second he hit the pillow though, and I wasn't about to wake him from what I hope we're very pleasant dreams (If he had any at all). I settled in to my sleeping bag next to him, and was greeted with quiet breathing from Snow.

He was turned to face the tent fabric, I don't blame him, he's probably nothing short of completely pissed at me. This is also somewhat good, because I can pick up on my staring. It's a shame that It's just his golden-bronze curls I have the courtesy of viewing, seeing to the fact that the tent wall gets the privilege of watching that beautiful face of his.

It takes me a few hours before I'm able to find sleep.

 **Simon**

Thank God I wake before Baz does.

I creep out of the tent and sit on a patch of grass just outside it. Before I realize what I'm doing, rocks are flying from my hand, hitting tree trunks and getting lost in shrubs.

 _Why does he always know where to hit me the hardest?_ Throw. _Why does he always go for the lowest blow?_ Throw. _Why is Baz so much better than me?_ I pause. It's true. I'm not arguing with myself over that fact.

I can't believe I nearly gave in to him yesterday, I nearly broke into tears in front of him, which is what he would want.

' _Stop.'_

Why'd he tell me to stop the second he knew? Because _he knew_ that he hit me hard, and he knew I was going to cry. I honestly don't get him sometimes.

I get up from where I sat in the grass and break into a sprint. I need to clear my mind.

 **Baz**

What the hell?

I wake up to a very annoying sound, so I look outside the tent. He doesn't notice me which is good. Simon is chucking rocks at trees with so much force, tears streaming down his face.

I don't even know if Simon realizes he's crying, because he doesn't make a move to wipe them away. Then he drops the rocks and breaks into a sprint… into the woods. The opposite direction from the big house, where we'll be having breakfast.

I'm caught in a dilemma, because I'm tempted to go after Simon incase he were to get lost. I also don't want to be late for breakfast…

Screw morals. I sprint after Simon, he's not too far ahead. The only thing is I'm not exactly sure what I'll say to him. I can't let my love for him show. I don't exactly want to let my bitchy side show either.

Simon whirls around when he hears me, then becomes painfully aware of what a mess his face is and wipes away the tears.

Simon steps up to me, so our faces are mere inches apart. "If you're here to mock me, you can fuck off, Baz." He makes a move probably to punch me, but I grab his wrist. "I came here to apologize." I say.

 **Agatha**

They're standing so close to each other. I came to call Simon over for breakfast, and when neither he or Baz were in their tent I went off looking for them.

I didn't expect to see them this close, probably about to kiss. Baz is holding Simon's wrist now.

I only want the best for Simon, and if Baz makes him happy, I won't tell him what I just saw when I break up with him.

 **Simon**

Baz is… apologizing? "What." I breathe. I can't believe this, and I'm done with all of his jokes. I don't want him mocking me and I'd love to knock his bloody lights out.

"I'm sorry for yesterday, I shouldn't have mocked you." _What the hell?_ I clear my throat. "Why aren't you laughing or mocking me, Baz? Isn't it a little strange for you to feel sympathy? Can't you just leave me alone sometimes!?"

Baz smirks. "We'll be sharing a God damn tent for a little while, Snow. I don't want you setting it on fire while you think about how pissed off I make you. So I apologized."

Baz turns around and begins walking back to the big house for breakfast. _Fuck me_. This is going to be a long trip.

 **Baz**

I think I may have gotten slightly carried away with the apologizing… but I think I had a good balance between love and bitchy-ness. (I'm patting myself on the back right now.)

I grab some toast for breakfast because crowley knows I'm not going near anything else at that buffet table. Then I settle in next to Dev and Niall.

"Hey, Baz." Niall lifts his chin in greeting. Dev smirks and turns towards me. "How's life in hell?" I laugh and swallow some toast. "Words can't describe what life sharing a tent with the little brat is like." _It's a wonderful life._

I don't know what changed, but now I'm painfully aware of every time that I insult Simon.

 **Simon**

I walk over to a table were Penny is already seated. She smiles at me, unable to speak seeing to the fact that her mouth is full of whatever we're being provided with for 'food.'

I smile back. Nothing is on my plate as of right now. I can't wrap my head around what is up with Baz. I don't even know if I'm still angry at him. Agatha brings her plate to our table and sits across from Penny and I.

"Hey, Agatha! Did you sleep well?" She smiles, but it's half hearted. Then Agatha turns to Penny. "Mind if I talk to Simon for a few minutes?" Penny smirks and nudges me before walking over to another table.

"What's up Agatha?" She has a way of making me nervous before I have a reason to be nervous. She looks down at her plate.

"I'm breaking up with you."

 **Agatha**

Simon's eyes widen as he looks for the words to reply with. I would say that I feel bad, but I know he's obviously better off with Baz. At least, it seemed so. I'm happy he at least held back in the woods, knowing that we were still together.

"Why?" He asks. I figure it's more to himself. It's like he's asking me to humiliate him. Luckily I'm a nice person.

"Simon, I think it's best for both of us. I want you to be happy." I place my hand over his on the table. His eyes brim with tears. "I honestly just want the best for you, Simon. I don't think this is right for either of us."

 _How else do I imply I know without implying that I know?_

"Was it something I did? I am happy Agatha!" Simon has his head in his hands.

Yes, it was something he did and yes, I know he's happy with Baz.

"Simon, I don't want to stop being friends, I just don't think being boyfriend and girlfriend was right for us. Do you still want to be friends with me?"

"Y-yes." He chokes out. I get up and rest my hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly. "Good, I'll see you around then, Simon."

 **Simon**

As soon as Agatha gets up to leave, I make a break for my tent and break down.

Just my luck that Baz is fucking following me, _again_.

My head is buried in the pillow when he walks in. " _Fuck. Off. Baz."_ He doesn't reply, just sits down on his sleeping bag.

I turn my head out of my pillow and peer at him. He's staring at the tent zipper that he left unzipped, which is now fluttering in the wind. I'm surprised he hasn't said anything yet.

I don't know why Baz can't just leave me alone sometimes. He stuffs his last piece of toast in his mouth. "Agatha dump you?" He asks.

I bury my face back in the pillow when I feel the tears resurface, and give him the finger. "Calm your shit, Snow, It's a question not an insult. I mean, if you want to take it as an insult you do you." Then he turns back around.

"Why are you even here." I say. Not a question. He turns towards me. "Do you actually think I'm about to do one of their shitty activities on my own? We're 'partners' for this entire trip. So I mean this is the nicest way possible; move your ass towards the big house because I'm not trying to drag these activities on for longer than I have to."

He gets up with a sigh and leaves the tent. I wait a few minutes hoping he got a good head start, then get all of my tears out before making my way to the big house.

It's a shame I really wasn't prepared for this activity I'm going to have to do with Baz.


	3. Survival

**Baz**

No one needs to announce this activity, because I know that no matter what it is, it's going to be hell for all of us.

The same girl who called out the bus list what felt like ages ago is back. She peers through her glasses at everyone, scanning the room for people who might be missing. Simon's standing next to me, since we're buddies for this entire trip.

Glasses girl starts reading out names, and lucky us, no ones missing, which means were moving on to the announcement of our activity.

"Alright Watford! Before we begin, I want everyone to place their wands on the table here." She taps her nails on the table in front of her.

Simon shoots me a panicked look which describes exactly how I'm feeling right now, because I don't know what the hell were going to have to do that strictly forbids our wands. We're fucking _magicians_.

As we wait in line to drop off our wands, Simon mouths _what the hell_ to me. I mouth _I don't fucking know_ , back.

Once everyone has departed with their wands, we stand back in our original spots. Glasses girl clears her throat.

"Okay, Watford! For your first activity, we want to test all of your survival skills." My heart just about stops. "We will not be providing you with food until lunchtime tomorrow, and you and your partner will have to fend for yourselves."

I mutter _shit_ under my breath and turn to Simon, who looks as if he might pass out at any given moment.

"We will be providing you with all of the necessary supplies you might need to harvest or kill anything for food. Good luck, and I'm looking forward to seeing how you all did tomorrow! Everyone come to the front and grab one bag per pair of people."

I trudge over to the table, pick up a bag, and give glasses girl a dirty look for good measure. Simon and I don't even consult with each other before heading back to the tent.

He plops down on his sleeping bag. "I'm going to starve." He says, then lays back and closes his eyes. I let him, because it hit me that I haven't been able to feed even once on this damned camping trip, and I won't be able to if I have to go hunting with Simon today.

I don't have my wand with me, thanks to whoever organized this shitty activity, so it takes me awhile before I sneak up on a deer.

No one will ever understand how much it hurts me to have to kill such beautiful creatures. I didn't choose to be turned into a bloody vampire. When I finally find a deer I search through the pack we were provided with.

A rope. A first aid kit. Three daggers. A small bow and a few arrows.

I grab a dagger and hurl it at the deer. It strikes right in the neck. Perfect. Once it goes limp, my fangs pop and I drain about half of it's blood. I lick my lips clean before turning around.

Simon is standing a few feet away, gaping at me. " _I fucking knew it."_ He mutters.

 **Simon**

I watched Baz kill that deer. I don't understand how he can be skilled in not only magic, but with a dagger. His back is to me, and he can only be doing what a vampire would do… sucking the life out of that deer.

I didn't even have to see him drink blood to know what he was doing. " _I fucking knew it."_ Baz's eyes are wide, his hands on both sides of the slice across the deer's neck.

"Were we not instructed to fend for ourselves, Snow? I've just earned the both of us our meals for today." He can deny it all he wants, but he was definitely not just hunting, _was he?_

Suddenly it starts drizzling rain. "Aw, shit." Baz says. "Get over here Snow, help me get this out of the rain now, will you?" I help him lift the deer. "If you think this is going in our tent, my answer is _hell no."_ I say.

Baz and I both freeze when we hear multiple howls, definitely not far away. I drop the deer and so does Baz. He gives me a panicked look.

" _Baz!"_ I whisper- yell. He whisper-yells back. " _Shut the fuck up unless you want to be mauled by a pack of wolves!"_

 **Baz**

Simon grabs my hand and intertwined our fingers, which would have normally caused me to pass out, except for all of the adrenaline coursing through me.

I start to run, Simon right next to me, our hands keeping us that way. The wolves begin yipping and growling, but there's no way in hell that I'm looking back.

We come across a large tree, and I know that wolves can't climb, so I practically throw Simon up in to one of it's low branches.

Simon reaches out a hand for me, and he's sobbing. "Baz!" He yells. I realize that I'm sobbing too. I grab onto his hand, and soon enough Simon and I are both sitting in the low branches of a tree.

We're practically clinging to each other until the wolves stop trying to jump up this tree and leave. Simon has his face buried in my chest and his breathing is ragged.

Simon looks up and though his breathing has calmed down, his face is streaked with tears. I run my hands through his hair. We both just, look at eachother, searching each other's eyes for the fear.

" _I'm fucking scared Baz."_ Simon breathes.

All that I can think is _I could kiss him right now._


	4. Treetops

**Baz**

I don't know how long Simon and I have been sitting up here in this tree, waiting for the rain to stop so we have a clear path back to our tent.

I really do want to kiss Simon though. When is an opportunity like this going to come up ever again? Right now Simon has snuggled into my arms and his head is resting against my chest, eyes closed.

Unfortunately the reason for this is not that Simon Snow is hopelessly in love with me, but that the both of us are probably going to end up with hypothermia.

So, my cowardly self notices that Simon is shivering in my arms. What do I do rather than kiss him? I smooth his damp hair out of his eyes and kiss his forehead. In my mind that counts, because I'm shitting myself right here in this moment while I wait for him to do _something._

The thing is he doesn't do anything. I think that's a good thing. I was ready for him to chuck me out of this tree. After I kiss his cheek he lifts his head from my chest to look at me.

The thing is he seems bashful. Oh and did I mention _so damn cute_. Shouldn't I be the one who's shy? I give him a faint smile and he buries his face back in my chest.

The rain eventually stops, but it's too cloudy to locate our way back to the tent. Simon looks up again. "Baz?" He says.

I lean my head against the tree trunk and close my eyes. "Hm?" I say.

"Can't vampires kill wolves?" My eyes fly open, and I hope he can't read the emotions on my face. The thing that's killing me is not the question in itself, but in the tone in which the question was asked.

I could tell by his tone of voice, that Simon is not mocking me. It is a genuine question. He genuinely thinks that I'm a vampire.

"I-I, h-how should I-" I don't know how to answer Simon's question. Suddenly the memories come flooding back to me. I wasn't born a vampire, and Simon can't stand me for being one.

The way Simon is looking at me initially causes the tears to begin flowing. I turn my head to the side, hoping to conceal the worst of my breakdown from Simon, though there isn't really anywhere to go in a tree.

"...Baz." Simon puts his hand on my shoulder. If I'm not completely and utterly screwed at this point, I don't know anything anymore. "Talk to me Baz."

I love how Simon is trying to comfort me, at least I assume that's what he's trying to do.

I sniff. "Talk to you about w-what?" He looks down. I don't know what exactly he's thinking or feeling. Is that… _sympathy?_

 **Simon**

I feel like shit. For bringing up the vampire thing. And sure -my suspicions are now confirmed. But there's definitely something Baz isn't telling me, something that goes deeper.

For one, he never once made a move on any humans. He could've easily killed me in my sleep many times. He acts like he wants to kill me though…

At the same time, all I asked was if vampires can kill wolves, when he broke down.

 _Then he kissed me_. Okay, it wasn't really a kiss. But it was so unlike Baz. I don't know if that's his way of mocking me… but then he smiled at me. A genuine one too.

He really is messing with my head.

I put my hand back on his shoulder, because once again, I really do feel bad for making him like this.

"I'm a vampire, Snow. You were right." My breathing hitches. Sure, I knew from the moment that he broke down that he was a vampire, but he just flat out admitted it to me.

Baz's face scrunches up and he begins crying again when he sees the reaction his confession got out of me. "Stop Baz, please." He wipes at his face and looks down, but goes on.

"I was one of the babies in the nursery attack, Simon. The only one turned."

Oh my God. Did I say I feel like shit before? I don't even know what to say right now. Much less what to say to Baz.

Instead I hug him. I press my forehead to the side of his face, so I'm breathing on to Baz's cheek, where the tears flow. We stay like that for a while, and Baz's breathing turn's back to normal.

I'm hoping to reassure Baz that he isn't alone. I've sure made him feel that way with the things I said over the years.

He looks up to see the sun peeking through the clouds, lighting up his grey eyes. Baz looks back at me. "I'm sorry, Baz. I don't know what to say. I don't think there's anything that I _can_ say that'll make everything I said over the years any better."

I place my hand on his bicep. "Thank you. Thank you for telling me." I say. Since the sun is now up, we climb down from the tree and I remember something.

"When the wolves came… you -you sent me up the tree first." Now I'm getting emotional.

Baz put my life before his.

Baz tilts his head upwards, so the sun showers his face. His eyes brim with tears and he bites his quivering bottom lip. "Yeah. Yeah, I did." He says it in a hushed tone.

As we walk back to our tent, I notice the deer Baz caught, or was feeding on, has been ravaged by the wolves. I'm starving.

"Where'd you leave that bag we got from the big house?" I ask Baz. He points in the general direction that we're heading. "I left it by the tent when I hunted that deer."

When we find the bag, Baz opens it up and starts to rummage through its contents. He holds out a first aid kit. "Need it?" I shake my head. He tosses aside a coil of rope, then pulls out two daggers.

I expect him to hand me one, but he holds one in each of his hands. Baz gets up and whips his head in every direction as he stalks forward, looking for any sign of animal life.

Baz spots it before I do, but that's definitely a rabbit. It pokes its head up looking for any sign of danger, but the poor rabbit's back is to us.

Like lightning one dagger flies out of Baz's grip and lands at the rabbit's feet, but before it can react, the second dagger pierces its abdomen.

Baz is breathing heavy as he walks over to pick up the rabbit. I follow him. I can't help but admire how good he is at wielding that dagger.

He hands the rabbit to me. "Here." Baz says as he places it in my hands. It's not very big, but probably enough to hold one of us over.

"Why are you giving this to me?" I ask. Baz shrugs. "You're hungry."

I gape at him "Like you're not?" He shrugs again. "Sure I am, but I had some blood from that deer before, I can hold off longer than you'll be able to."

I start a fire and cook the rabbit. I insist that Baz have some, but he keeps shaking his head and refusing.

We're both sitting by the fire when the sun starts to set. Baz is bandaging a cut he got oh his calf when I pulled him up the tree. He's so focused on his bandaging that I take a moment to really look at him, I haven't before.

His eyes. A stormy grey that until now, I hadn't realized how truly mesmerizingly beautiful they were. His raven black hair. Unruly from the day we just had, it frames his face perfectly. It falls in bone straight strands, he blows one out of his eyes. My heart stops, and I'm forced to ask myself a question.

 _Am I attracted to Baz?_


	5. Nature Walks

**Simon**

 _Baz brushes the back of his hand across my cheek. "Simon." He breathes. Before either of us realize it, we're leaning into each other, our faces only inches apart. His lips ghost across mine. "I want to be with you, Simon." He says. Then I lean in and close the final distance between us. Kissing Baz is amazing; it's more than I ever could have imagined…_

The thing is, I did imagine it. I jolt awake, only to find that I'm in fact still in our wonderfully cramped tent on the same delightful camping trip in the woods.

Baz is looking at me, while munching on a croissant probably from the buffet at the big house.

"Good morning to you, Snow." He snorts. "Seems like you had quite pleasant dreams. So pleasant you practically flew out of your sleeping bag."

I'm not exactly sure how to go about these new feelings I have for Baz. Yes, I have in fact acknowledged that Baz is alarmingly handsome… and after the dream I just had, there's no denying that I'm beginning to feel something for him.

Baz tosses me a blueberry scone, which lands on my sleeping bag. I take it and lie back down.

"I'm not here to have a tea party, Simon. Our next activity from hell is being announced this morning in case you've forgotten. I figured that you'd like to get as much sleep in as you can after the events of yesterday." He yawns.

"I also figured that you'd starved yourself enough yesterday, so I brought you that," He gestures to my scone. "Which I also expect you to scarf down, because I for one would like to get my wand back."

I do as Baz says, finishing the scone as quickly as possible, then wriggle out of my sleeping bag. Baz is holding the tent flap open for me, rolling his eyes as I pass through. We walk to the Big House in silence.

Glasses girl with the clipboard checks off our names when we get to the door, then reaches in to a box and hands us our wands. "Thank God." Baz mutters.

Once everyone files in, I find Penny and go to stand next to her while everyone awaits our next activity. My eyes unconsciously scan the room for anywhere Baz might be, and I find him standing next to Dev and Niall.

I don't know what I expected, and I'm not sure what these feelings mean. When Agatha was still with me, I wasn't constantly looking around for her… I guess the difference is that these feelings are hopeless.

Glasses girl leaves her place at the door and stands in the centre of the room. "Well, I'm happy to say that everyone did well on the first activity of this trip!"

I see Baz raise his hand, but he doesn't wait for anyone to call on him before he speaks. "How exactly does one fail that so called 'activity' of yours? Did we have to die to fail?"

Glasses girl turns crimson as people begin snickering. "I'm going to assume that you've all found enough food, so that's what I mean by success, Basilton." Half of the room begins shouting in protest about how they starved for a day.

"Alright! Quiet down! I know your first activity was rough, so today all you have to do is gather some leaves or flowers outside and make necklaces with those things for whoever you wish."

The room quiets down. "I want to be sure you have all participated, so once you've made one, come find me. Also, this activity does not require your partners, and you may collect things on your own if you wish."

 **Baz**

The second she finishes her sentence, I'm out the door searching for leaves.

As you can probably imagine, there are leaves everywhere. The problem is that I'll be left with nothing else to do once I finish this activity.

For once in my life, I have no one to bother me, so I take my time wandering into the forest, looking for only the most beautiful leaves.

Thank God we have our wands back, because without mine I wouldn't still be out here for fear of another goddamn wolf attack.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, I find a patch of red-orange leaves that have fallen from their tree early. It's still nearing the end of summer. I squat down to pick them up.

"Baz, how are you?" I look up to see Agatha standing a few feet away. She's standing with her hands folded in front of her.

"I'm alright, how about yourself?" She nods. "I'm good. Baz- I came here to talk to you. Is it alright if we sit down for a bit?"

"Sure." We walk over to a rock big enough for the two of us. "Start talking."

She looks down at her hands. "How are things with- with you and Simon? Are you happy being together with him?"

 _What the hell is she talking about?_

"We're not together Agatha…" Her head snaps up and she meets my eyes. "The two of you broke up already!?" I let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Agatha, have you taken any drugs within the past twenty-four hours? You're acting quite delusional if I do say so myself."

Her brows knit together and her lips press into a thin line. "I saw you two in the forest a few days ago before you kissed. That's why I broke up with Simon. I thought he was better off with you. Happier with you."

I can't fucking help myself. Tears prick at my eyes, but I'm able to hold them back. My hands are shaking, so I squeeze my thighs to keep Agatha from realizing it.

I can't keep this fucking secret inside me anymore, and I don't even give a shit if the entire world knows; except it will only be Agatha who knows.

"I'm in love with him, Agatha." The crisp air fills with the sounds of my heavy breathing. She puts a hand on my shoulder. "You haven't told him?" She asks. I shake my head.

"Do you plan on telling him, Baz?" I take a moment to think about that. I could just tell him, get it off my chest, but I've been avoiding that for years. Hiding from the rejection that waits for me.

"No." I breathe. "I don't know how."

Agatha looks mortified. She's gone pale as a ghost. "Uh, Agatha…?" She startles and looks back at me.

"I was just thinking about Simon again, sorry." I shake my head again. "No, no it's fine. Tell me what you're thinking."

She inhales sharply. "I- It's just, now that I know you were never with him, and you don't plan on telling him about your feelings… It's just- It's made me think of getting back together with him."

I do my damn best to hide what is most likely the greatest pain I've felt in my life. The day Agatha broke up with Simon, it gave me hope- even if it was a little bit, that I could have a chance with Simon.

"Who am I to stop you, Agatha. He was happy with you, and it was only a misunderstanding that you broke up with him. I can tell you care about Simon especially since you wanted him to be happy, even if it meant losing him."

She gives me a hug. A bone crushing hug. "Baz, you should know that I feel like a complete bitch doing this, getting back together with Simon." She pulls away to look at me. "I can't imagine how hard it was for you to admit that to me."

"Don't worry about it." It takes everything in me to smile.

She strides off after that, leaving me here. Leaving me to the greatest pain that is my thoughts.

I gather up a few more leaves, my mind blank. I force myself to focus on the task at hand, because I know if I let myself think, I'll drown.

Once I reach the big house, I sit down and stare at the pile in front of me.

I don't think. I start tying the stems together until I'm left with a necklace.

Then I let myself think. As I stare at the ring of leaves before me, I realize that I have no one to give it to. Dev and Niall wouldn't be caught dead with this, leaving me with no one to gift it to.

I walk over to glasses girl and she checks of my name. I'm done with this.

Then I make my way over to the other side of the room, to the trash bin.

 **Simon**

Once I've gathered everything I need to start this activity, I walk over to a table near the back of the room.

Agatha walks over to my table and sits down. Penny is still out looking for things, and so are most of the magicians. Not Baz tough.

His back is to me, but I can still see his hands working away at a necklace of red-orange leaves. He hasn't even looked up and he doesn't seem to realize anyone else is in here.

I force my attention back to Agatha. It doesn't hurt me to look at her or even talk to her. I'm grateful that she left me, I was able to realize my feelings for Baz.

"Hey." She says. "I wanted to talk to you... about us." My heart stops. "Um, okay…what'd you want to talk about?"

She swallows. "I wanted to get back together."

I blink a few times. "Agatha… you broke up with me- what was it? Two days ago? I still don't know why you did." She can't meet my eyes. "Simon- I-I know, but it was all a misunderstanding. Things are all worked out now and I know you still want to be with me."

 _What?_

"Agatha, I'm falling in love with someone else." I haven't even admitted it to myself yet. I've known Baz for years, and it took me a shitty camping trip and a break up to realize I'm falling in love with him.

I can tell she's on the verge of tears, because she looks down so her hair hides her face. She sniffs, then looks back at me. "It's Baz, isn't it Simon?"

 _How does Agatha know? Am I that obvious? Does Baz know too?_

"Agatha- I- I don't know what to say." She's crying now, and it makes me thankful that no one else is in here. I realize Baz is also gone.

"Simon, I first broke up with you after I saw the two of you in the forest a few days ago. I thought you were about to kiss." She wipes her eyes. "I didn't want to make you feel bad when I broke up with you, so I wasn't going to bring up what I thought I saw."

All I can to is gape at her. "I thought you would've got the hint, Simon. When I said I wanted you to be happy, I meant it."

"Agatha, it took you breaking up with me to realize I'm falling in love with Baz." She cries harder.

"Oh, Simon. I just talked to Baz. He told me he loves you."

 **Baz**

That's it. I let myself think, and Simon is all I can think about. I didn't realize just how much of my heart is being taken up by that boy.

I start sprinting back to our tent, and once I reach it, go inside for a bit, then re-emerge outside to turn for the woods. I won't go far from the tent, so I'm able to find my way back.

While I run, the wind dries the old tears, while pushing new ones farther down my face until they reach my chin. I sprint as far as I can, then I collapse against a tree and cry.

I cry and cry and cry.

I'm so in love with Simon, and I'm a fool for it. I had my chance and it's gone.

My hands are shaking violently, and I do anything I can to keep them occupied. Run them through my hair, fumble with the ends of my shirt, trace Simon's name into the dirt with my wand.

Nothing works.

 **Simon**

I don't let Agatha finish. I get up and mutter a small _thanks_ to her, before sprinting to our tent.

What I find nearly kills me. Baz must think I didn't see him making this.

There, lying on top of my sleeping bag, is his necklace.


	6. Sunshine

**Simon**

Picking up the necklace Baz made with delicate hands, I really take the time to look at it. My fingers trace along the veins of each leaf, with stems carefully woven together.

Later, I crawl out of the tent in hopes of finding Baz, then realize it won't be so easy and that he could've gone in any direction out in the woods. Most of the campers are back at the big house making their necklaces, seeing as both Baz and I finished early.

I freeze. My heart cracks when I realize that I can hear Baz from where I stand outside of our tent. He's crying, no doubt, but I can just barely make it out in the large expanse of forest.

It's enough to give away the general direction in which Baz is located, so I follow the sounds of his crying. The sound is soft, but still enough to drown out those of birds or animals. Mostly because that's the only sound I'm paying attention to.

Agatha said that Baz loves me. Not that he likes me or is _falling_ in love with me, I mean, that would have already been enough to make me the happiest person alive. This is more than I deserve.

The thing is, I'm not sure whether I can take Agatha's word. Sure, I trust her, but when it involves Baz and him loving me, I'm not sure what I believe. That's why when Baz's image becomes clear I realize something. It's that I want to hear him say that he loves me.

Not even that. I just want to hear what Baz truly thinks of me, whether it is good or bad, and for it to come from him.

When I get close enough to see that Baz is sunken back against a tree, I realize that his hands are trembling. I can tell that he is trying to keep them occupied, but nothing is working. Baz ends up putting his head in his hands while his shoulders begin shaking.

It takes everything in me not to break down right there and then. It kills me to see Baz like this, so cracked and hurt. I can only assume that it is because he is in love with me, what he believes to be a hopeless love, what I believed to be a hopeless love.

I know, the second Baz's head turns around and he lets out a small whimper, the second his eyes meet mine, I know that I am very much in love with this boy.

 **Baz**

I turn around, knowing that I had heard something, and there is Simon the bloody beautiful Snow. I'm not going to stop crying now. Mostly because at the sight of him, knowing he's seeing me like this makes me cry even harder, so I really can't stop.

Also because I realize that loving Simon was and never will be a bad thing. I've loved him for years, and I'm finally ready to accept that I will live with it, no matter what Simon wants to think about it. I will never stop loving Simon

 **Simon**

Now that Baz has acknowledged me, I take this as my cue to head over to him. I saunter over to the tree Baz is leaning against and sit next to him.

His hands are still trembling, they rest on both of his knees. "Why aren't you afraid of me, Simon?" Baz says, though it's barely a whisper. His head is turned away from me, but I can see the silent tears rolling down his cheeks.

I place my hand overtop his shaking one, then answer. "I could never be afraid of you, Baz." He goes still as my fingers trace the back of his hand. I notice him staring down at our nearly interlaced fingers, and it gives me a little smidge of hope that maybe Agatha was being truthful to me, that Baz was being truthful to her.

"Why do you care, Simon? Since when did you give a shit about what I'm going through?" I chuckle. "Baz, haven't I always made sure I knew where you were, what you were planning?"

Baz closes his eyes and tilts his head back. "Why don't you care that I'm a vampire, a monster?" His entire body is shaking now, and his chest is rattling with uneven breaths.

"Baz! Baz, It's okay." His eyes are still closed. I'm not sure what I should do. I wrap my arms around Baz and my heart stutters at the sudden contact. I notice that Baz's arms immediately find themselves around me. He is clinging to my shirt and I can feel his breath on my neck.

I pet Baz's hair, then began murmuring in to his ear. "It's okay, Baz. You're not a monster. Not to me, not to anyone. It's going to be alright." His breathing eventually returns to normal, which is when I pull away and stare into those deep gray eyes.

"Baz, I came because I want to know what you really think of me." When Baz begins crying again, I feel awful. I wait for him to speak.

"Simon, I don't want to ruin what we have. We've been enemies for years and this camping trip has brought us just a little bit closer than we were before. I don't want to ruin that by telling you what I think of you."

Suddenly I can barely breathe. This could be it. "Tell me." I gasp out. Then Baz is looking at me, _really_ looking at me. Searching my gaze for anything that might give away my intentions and where I intend for this conversation to go.

I can see Baz's adam's apple bob as he searches for the words to start with. "Well uh, do you want the whole story?" I nod. He grabs my wrist.

"You have to promise me one thing though, Simon." A stray tear slides down his cheek. I wipe it away with my thumb. Baz is silent for a moment. "Promise me what I'm about to tell you won't change things between us."

"I promise." I say softly.

Baz takes in a shuddering breath. "Where should I begin…" He mutters. "Well, if you want the whole story, we're going to be here awhile, Snow."

Then I realize, "You've been calling me Simon this whole conversation." Baz bites his quivering bottom lip, then angles his head downwards so his hair falls in his face. "I suppose that you're about to find out why." He says.

Baz is tracing circles on to his leg. "When we were about twelve years old, Simon, I had a thought that I still carry with me today." I notice his eyes flick to a spot in the dirt. _Simon_ is written across the ground. His eyes return to his leg, where his fingers continue tracing circles.

"I-I…" He turns around, trying to conceal his face. "Sorry, I don't know why I'm telling you this, Simon. It's just something that's not easy for me to say." I place my hand on Baz's shoulder and squeeze lightly. "It's alright, I'm glad you're letting whatever this is out."

Baz takes in another deep breath and focuses on his shoes. "I thought that you were beautiful." He covers his face with his hands, which have began to tremble once again. " _Fuck._ " He mutters.

I wish I could describe what I felt. Baz said he thought I was beautiful when we were _twelve._ We're nearly eighteen now. I lean my head against Baz's shoulder for some reassurance. "You- you really thought that about me, and all those years ago?"

Baz doesn't answer, only goes on. "I still think that you're absolutely stunning to this day, Simon." I must say that I'm having quite a hard time holding back at this point.

I place my hand overtop of Baz's once again. He spreads his fingers in silent invitation, and I thread my fingers through his. He lets out a soft whimper and It kills me that Baz is still crying. That he still thinks I don't want anything to do with him. That I'm disgusted by him.

"When we were about fifteen or sixteen," Baz starts. "I-I realized," He takes in a long breath. "I realized that I love you." I squeeze his hand which is still in mine.

Tears begin sliding down my face too, and I am forced to think about how much I have come to care about Baz over the course of this trip. The moment Baz realizes I'm crying, he pulls his hand away from mine, but doesn't stop looking at me. "I don't want things to be different, Simon. Please."

"Things are going to be different Baz." He turns away from me. I turn him back around and grab his chin, so Baz is forced to look at me. I have trouble speaking, because I can see such hurt on Baz's face. The hurt that comes with what I just said.

"Baz, things are going to be different because I love you too." He just looks at me for a while. "Simon, please don't joke with me right now-"

"-Baz, I love you," I place my forehead against his. "I don't know how I didn't realize it sooner. I think that something sparked when you put my life before yours, the day of the attack. Baz, if you've always loved me," I sniffle. "Then it must have taken everything out of you, having to pretend you hated my guts every single damn day."

Baz just nodded slightly. "You've wanted this for far too long, Baz. So- so go ahead, go ahead and kiss me, Baz" He shakes his head and continues to cry.

"Simon you don't want this-"

"-Baz I can't imagine what you went through, just-"

"-Simon, please, you can't want this of me." We go silent, then Baz speaks again. "I've never kissed anyone before, Simon." I grab both of his hands in mine. "What?" I breathe. He looks up at me through his tears.

Baz shakes his head. "I wouldn't ever forgive myself if I were to kiss anyone else that wasn't you. Even if that meant I would never get to be with anyone. I've never been interested in anyone else, and I just couldn't imagine a day in which I didn't love you." His voice breaks. "I'll always love you, Simon."

I look him in the eyes, and this time he doesn't turn away. "I love you Baz, I want this." This time, instead of turning away, Baz puts one of his hands over the nape of my neck. His fingers are so gentle, like I'll crack if he presses down too hard.

Then Baz is leaning in slowly, but he stops when our lips are only inches away from each other. Baz hesitates for a while. I don't say anything, knowing that this is important to Baz, he's wanted this for far longer than I have and I'm not about to rush him.

All that I can do is wait. I look into his wonderful grey eyes that I can never get enough of and barely realize it when Baz's lips are pressed against mine.

He's being so gentle with me, it makes me want to cry. I didn't feel the press of his lips at first, because of how soft the contact was. His lips are hot against mine, thank Crowley he had a chance to feed earlier today.

Baz only kisses me once, then pulls away as gently as he first kissed me. His pointer and index fingers trace his bottom lip and he looks up at me with such love, I think I may just die. I don't let Baz speak before my hands are on either side of his face and I kiss him again. He kisses back right away, and puts his hands on the small of my back.

I'm barely able to breathe because I can't believe this is really _happening_. My heart swells when I think about what this must be like for Baz. I run my thumb along his jawline and he gives me a close-lipped smile. I can't help but smile back.

 **Baz**

The world is a wonderful place. I don't know why life is being this good to me. Simon is leaning against my chest and I couldn't be happier. He looks up at me, then gets up, pulling my hand.

"Let's get back to the tent." I smile and agree, because I couldn't give two shits about anything but Simon right now.

The walk back to our tent is nice. Mainly because Simon's fingers are threaded through mine, our hands swinging together in between us. The weather has also been quite beautiful today, making this day absolutely unforgettable.

Once we reach the tent, Simon and I crawl through the flap, fingers still interlocked. He sits down, and tugs my arm, causing me to fall and accidentally knee him in the gut.

"Oow" He complains, chuckling. "C'mere." He says, dragging me down so I'm laying overtop him. I bury my face in his chest.

"...Baz?" Simon says. I lift my head so I'm looking at him. "Hm?" I say.

He cards his fingers through my hair, and I look in to those clear water blue eyes.

"This trip has changed my life, Baz"


	7. Rocky

**Simon**

The feeling of waking up this morning could be described as nothing other than beautiful. I didn't know love felt this good. I smile to myself when I think about how Baz must be on top of the world right now.

 _Baz._

I turn around only to be greeted by an empty sleeping bag. Baz's empty sleeping bag. I shoot up in to a sitting position and run through all of the possible places that Baz might be.

Walking out of the tent, my head spins in every direction as I call for him. "Baz! Baz…? BAZ!" Nothing but the sounds of leaves rustling in the wind.

I break into a jog and head to the only other place that I know Baz might be. The Big House is quite empty, it's still dark out and I wouldn't expect any magicians to be awake for a couple of hours, give or take.

I knock a door labeled 'staff only' and wait for a few seconds. Then I am face to face with the one and only glasses girl, looking as exhausted as ever. "Have you seen Baz?"

I'm usually one for proper ways of greeting, but I couldn't care less right now. She yawns and flattens out the wrinkles in her onsie with her palms. "The name's Maggie, by the way."

I'll try and remember that. "Alright, _Maggie._ You seen Baz around in the past few hours? He's not in our tent-"

"-Baz the tall, lanky dude with a mess of black hair?" Suddenly I feel a sort of protectiveness for Baz, then a warmth that spreads through my body at that need to protect him.

"That's him." I say. Maggie is chewing on her thumbnail while leaning in the doorframe. "Well kid, he's over in the room down the hall. Try and be quiet, the poor guy is probably sleeping."

I give her a questioning look and she just shakes her head. "I'll let him talk. If he isn't already asleep he could tell you whatever you want to know" She says, before shutting the door with a soft click.

I saunter down the hall and stop in front of the only other door that doesn't say _keep out_ or _staff only_. I raise my fist to the door, then remember what she said about Baz sleeping, so I turn the knob and open the door as quietly as possible.

The room is lit up by only lamplight. Baz is perched on the bed with blankets wrapped around his shoulders, his eyes squeezed shut although he's in a sitting position. It's safe to say that Baz isn't asleep and probably ill.

"Baz..?" I say quietly, as not to startle him. His eyes crack open and he looks at me. I can tell by the ways that his eyes light up that Baz is happy to see me. His pupils are dilated from the limited light that the lamp gives the room.

Before I know it my feet are moving towards Baz, then I sit next to him and wrap my arms around his torso. Baz sighs and curls in to me as I murmur sweet nothings in to his hair.

"What happened, Baz? Are you alright?" I say, while rubbing my thumb along the back of his neck. He lifts his face from the crook of my neck just slightly.

"I don't want you to worry about me, love." Baz says. I kiss his cheek, because Baz is just too damn sweet and he just called me _love,_ which is enough to put me in to cardiac arrest.

I let out an exaggerated sigh before starting. "Well, just wanted to let you know that _I fucking worried,_ love." I can feel Baz smile against my neck. "Why are you smiling?" I ask.

"You called me love." Baz wraps his arms around me and kisses my cheek before nuzzling back in to the spot between my shoulder blades and my neck. "Baz, if I don't recall, you called me love, first."

"It's a miracle that it didn't slip years ago, Simon. It just- _crowley_ it means the whole damn world to me." I pull Baz even closer to me, if that's possible. I let him absorb any warmth he can get from me.

Baz makes a strange growl like sound, then faster than lightning, slithers out of my embrace and lunges for a bucket I didn't notice until now.

The room fills with the sounds of Baz dry-heaving in to a pail. I'm not sure if Baz has got anything left in him _to_ throw up. He seemed to have a pretty good idea where that bucket was, and I wasn't about to check its contents when I first walked in to the room.

Instead I pull Baz's hair back from his face and wipe the sweat from his brow as he continuously heaves in to this pail.

"You're alright." I repeat. It's probably not the best thing to say, but I'd like to think that my presence makes some sort of difference. I rub circles in to the small of Baz's back until he lifts his head from the pail and walks back over to the bed, plopping himself on to the mattress.

"So…" I start. "What exactly happened?" Baz sighs. "I don't know if it was the fucking food they give us here or _what._ All I know is that I feel like shit. I woke up feeling that way, and didn't want to wake you."

I wrap my arms around Baz gently. "Baz after yesterday, you should know that I wouldn't care. I'd want to be there to take care of you. You're sweet for wanting to let me sleep." He smiles at me. I smile back.

"You're probably tired, aren't you?" I ask, because Baz was already awake when I arrived here. He bites his bottom lip before nodding. "Yeah… I guess I'll see you around then?" I chuckle before pulling him down with me.

I pet his hair softy. "I'm not going anywhere. Sleep, Baz." and we do.

 **Penny**

Simon and Baz are too fucking cute. I'm not sure which one of these two is the cause of the horrible stench coming from that pail, but I couldn't care less.

Baz is snuggled in to Simon's arms and the two of them fell asleep so quickly that they didn't even pull the covers over themselves. I'm feeling particularly motherly today, so I do just that, pulling the covers over their torso's.

Then I start wondering when this began, and how long Simon hid whatever this is from me.

The reason I'm here is because the next activity was announced, and Maggie let me know that Simon and Baz were in this room. I must say that I expected hell to break loose.

Baz shifts slightly and opens his eyes. I freeze. "Penny." He breathes. Then Simon's eyes crack open and he stares at me wide eyed.

"Relax, you two, I'm going to assume that you didn't expect me to be here, so I'll give you some time to think of what to say." Baz rolls his eyes.

"Lucky for you two, the next 'activity' isn't one at all. They handed out some smore kits and told us to have a campfire with whoever you wish. By the way, it'll be me, you, Agatha, Dev and Niall. Before you ask, Dev and Niall heard we invited you Baz, and insisted on coming."

Baz sighed. "I would assume that is when you expect your explanation for this all?" He says. I nod and raise a brow, silently asking if I should be going. Baz angles his chin towards the door, so I turn the knob and let the door shut behind me.

All I can do is wonder what this means for Simon and I. Why he didn't feel the need to tell me about Baz. I'm not typically a cryer, but I love Simon. He's my best friend.

I thought friends told each other everything.


	8. Campfire

**Simon**

The moment where my life may just end is finally here. I'm sitting in front of a campfire with Baz, Penny, Agatha, Dev and Niall. My best friend Penny informed me that this is the time for Baz and I to tell the group about us. Our love.

Baz is sitting on my left and Penny to my right. Dev and then Niall to her right, and Agatha next to Baz. To my surprise, Agatha looks quite content about having the chance to be here, while Penny is the one who seems distant.

Dev and Agatha have already started turning their marshmallows in the fire while the rest of us put one on a stick.

Baz has a flame flickering around, dancing in his palm, and a marshmallow on a rather short stick hovering over it, held up by his free hand.

" _Ah! Fuck! Shit!"_ Dev's marshmallow has already caught fire. Baz starts to laugh, eventually so does everyone else. "Are you fucking serious!" Dev yells while his stick gets waved around. Eventually he gives up and drops it, stomping on the marshmallow.

"I think that's our cue to begin!" Agatha says, still smirking from the previous event. Penny clears her throat. "Before I invited these two over," She gestures to Baz and I. "I found something out that they've been keeping from all of us."

Suddenly everyone's eyes fall on the two of us. "Would you like to get this over with?" She says. I look over at Baz and he looks just about as petrified, if not more so, than I probably do myself.

I lean over to whisper in Baz's ear. " _For all of the hell I know this put you through, Baz. I'm going to do most of the talking. Feel free to speak if you'd like, but I know this'll be hard for us both. Let me do this for you."_ I pull back and Baz smiles sweetly at me.

That definitely got everyone even more intrigued. No one has muttered a word. I clear my throat and look at Baz again, before taking his hand and interlacing our fingers. To my surprise, Agatha puts her hands over her mouth and _squeals._

I can't describe the relief that washes over me, knowing that Agatha is not only okay with us, but happy about it. I offer her the most genuine smile I can and Baz does too, causing my heart to swell.

Dev and Niall seem to find this amusing too. They both join in and smile, in fact everyone but Penny now is smiling. "I see you've kissed a bloke, Baz." Dev says. "Good for you."

Baz chuckles. "Simon and I haven't even spoken a word, mate. Making assumptions aren't we now, Dev?" Niall speaks up. "Well _clearly_ something is going on between the two of you. You're at each other's throats, then you hold hands?"

"Mm yes, Niall." Baz says. "For the rest of you, Simon and I love each other. Being roommates and all, I've loved this one right here," He ruffles my hair with his free hand. "For so many years. It took up until this bloody trip for me to tell him. Luckily Simon developed the same feelings over the course of this trip."

I squeeze Baz's hand, and it seems everyone has noticed even that, the smallest of gestures between us. I take over. "It probably would have taken us a lot longer to tell you guys if Penny hadn't caught us sleeping together."

Dev chokes on his smore and Niall rolls his eyes before patting his back. "Not like that!" I retort. "Baz was sick so I stayed with him, literally _fell asleep_ with him."

Penny has been silent the entire time, until now, though her voice is rough. "Why didn't you tell me, Simon. I thought friends tell each other everything."

"Penny," I start. "I would have told you by the time this trip was over at the latest, it was just the fact that I'd never been happier than I am right now. I didn't want anything to come between Baz and I, at least not for the length of this trip."

"Simon, you know I'd never-" I cut her off. "I do know, Penny. I don't know why I hadn't already told you. I guess I was so lost," I turn to Baz, and he looks at me with such sweet tenderness in his eyes. "I was so lost in the guilt of what you, Baz, endured these past years. Carrying the burden of love with no one to tell. That's why I didn't tell you about us right away Penny."

It's _mission save fucking Simon Snow's life_ accomplished, when Penny wraps both Baz and I in an embrace. "Why are you two this cute?" Penny groans. "I've already had enough of this cutesy shit for one day."

"Me too," Offers Niall. "I mean, I can't believe you kissed the bloke you've wanted to for years, mate. If I was in that situation I most definitely would have given up a long while before you did."

"I never gave up, Niall." Baz says while looking at me. He bites his bottom lip, then I rest my head on his shoulder.

We all end up eating our smores, chatting about how the trip has been. What things are like in Watford and how everyone had been doing.

The feeling of having a family is beautiful.

 **Dev**

The next morning, Niall and I head to the big house. Like we have every day for what must've been a week, awaiting the next activity.

"Alright Watford!" Maggie says. "I want us to get started quickly, so listen up! Get in your partners," I smirk at Niall. "I need everyone outside and you'll have five minutes to discuss strategies or practice for our wheelbarrow races! You may begin."

" _Do they think we're fucking seven year olds?"_ I whisper yell to Niall. He just grabs my wrist and we head outside. The two of us sit down on a log a little ways away from the big house. "So…" Niall says. "Shall we talk 'strategy'?" I chuckle. "Fuck no, we have this in the bag mate."

"I was thinking the same. So, I want to place bets with you. Take your pick on who will come second place. Loser owes the winner what? Twenty bucks?" I nod. "I like the sounds of that."

I look around at the other teams. "I'll take our boy, Baz and his boyfriend." Niall thinks for a moment. "Mm, no. I think Penny and Trixie will take this. That girl Trixie must weigh nearly nothing."

"But Penny isn't nearly as fast as Baz is…" I nudge Niall's side. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see then, don't we mate?"

He smiles, then looks down for a moment. A sort of shadow passes over him while he thinks. "Niall, what are you thinking about?" He bites his bottom lip.

"I want to take back my bet, Dev." He says. I turn to him and smirk. "Afraid you'll lose Niall?" He pauses for a moment. "I don't want to back out, it's just that I want to take back the twenty. If you win, I'll give you my twenty bucks… It's just, if you lose-"

Niall cuts himself off and looks back down, still gnawing on his lip. I shake his shoulder lightly. "What is it, mate?" I say. Niall looks up at me like he's seen a ghost. "If… If I win, I want to kiss you, Dev."

My heart stops dead in my chest. My thoughts drift back to the campfire with Baz. I really admire him for being able to admit his feelings to Simon, because the way that Niall is looking at me right now is making it difficult for my brain to function. I know I'll never be able to tell him. I don't know if he was joking with me, so I joke back.

"I take back my bet too." I say. "I want you to kiss me if I win, Niall." He smiles at me and Crowley I fear I may faint. "I'm liking these odds." He says, before we are called to the starting line. I'm all adrenaline as Niall hops on to my back.

I can feel my pulse in my fingertips as the race starts. I don't even process my legs moving until we cross the finish line. _First place._

Niall hops down and turns to the race unfolding behind us. I do too. Baz and Simon are on the ground, laughing their asses off after falling. Penny and Trixie are in the top three for sure and my heart thrums. _Niall can still win this. Please let him win._

Penny and Trixie pull into second place. _So close…_ Then Penny stumbles on a rock and they finish in second place. I can't describe the disappointment that courses through me when I realize that this might have been the one opportunity I would have to kiss Niall. Then I realize this must have been a joke to him.

When the race is over everyone gets back to their cabins with in minutes; thank Crowley. I'm so thankful no one really cared that we won. I don't need a ceremony.

I turn to Niall, seeing that we are the only two people out here. "Guess that we both lost." I say. I can't pinpoint the expression on his face.

"We both win, Dev." Niall says, putting his hands on my shoulders and jumping up, wrapping his legs around my waist. Then he kisses me. I'm then overwhelmed by everything I feel and have felt for this boy as I kiss back.

My arms are wrapped around Niall's waist as I hold him up, his legs tighten around my hips, and we keep kissing until my back hits a tree. I lean on it for support and feel Niall smile against my lips. His words continue to echo through my mind.

 _We both win, Dev._

I smile back against his lips.

"We both win, Niall." I breathe.


	9. Obstacles

**Dev**

I wake up, and the sun is poking through our tent flaps. I shift around and-

 _Niall._ The events of yesterday come crashing through my mind. I become oh so very aware that Niall is huddled up next to me, his chest rising and falling with his peaceful breathing. His head is resting on my shoulder and his wavy mess of hair tickles my neck.

I really don't want to wake him, plus this does give me a chance to think through how my best mate became so much more than that yesterday.

Loving Niall was never a question in my mind, we were best mates for years after all. I love him, along with Baz and I could even learn to love Simon.

Niall starts to shift and I know he's woken up. "Morning." He mumbles in to my chest. "Sleep well?" I ask him, then he lifts his head to look at me. "How could I not after the day we both had yesterday?" I feel a smile tugging at the corners of my lips.

"I'm glad I haven't dreamt it then, if you remember it too." I say. Niall smiles at me before pressing his lips to mine.

 **Simon**

The bull shit never stops coming during this trip, does it? Everyone is standing outside awaiting the next activity, and then we're told to complete an obstacle course.

Fuck. my. Life.

A quick glance in each direction tells me that I'm not the only one who wants to get the hell out of here right now.

Baz's expression is neutral, but anyone who knows him can tell he isn't a happy camper. There are no happy campers here. Fucking hell.

I'd love to knock the amused look right off of Maggie's face, except the first group has just been called to begin. There are two boys I don't recognize, probably sixth or seventh years. They get through most of the course fine, until they get to the hurdles.

Let me tell you, the hurdles are fucking _high._ I don't know who the hell put this together, because I don't know anyone that I think could jump those.

One of the boys raises both his hands in the air in a sort of _how the fuck are we supposed to do this Maggie,_ gesture. The other boy gets ready to jump and attempts it. You can probably guess how that went.

One of his legs makes it over the wooden bar, though his other leg hits the bar. Thank God he is able to break his fall with his hands. To my surprise, not one person laughs about it, which really says all know this is a complete crap shoot.

We wait and wait as more names are called. I don't know how this shit is still happening because a kid already broke his ankle, another hit her head pretty bad and about five people have already been sent home for similar injuries.

Dev and Niall have already taken their turn. They came out with a couple nasty bruises but were otherwise okay. They're forced to stay until everyone completes the course, though.

When Maggie calls Baz and I up, I debate running in the other direction. At this point I'm praying I won't end up being one of the unfortunate kids with broken bones or fractures.

Baz goes before me for every part of the course. When we get to the damn hurdles I can feel my heart beating in my fingertips. I squeeze Baz's shoulder before he gets ready to jump and he offers me a small smile.

After Baz jumps, the worst cry of pain I've ever heard echoes through the forest.

 **Niall**

Dev and I are standing over Baz, while Simon presses his hand to Baz's torso.

When Baz jumped, he obviously fell. We all did. But he fell at an awkward angle and onto a sharp wooden stake no one seemed to know was there.

Simon is already crying a river and my jaw is aching trying to hold back myself. He could have died. That stake could have pierced his organs, though thank crowley it punctured the side of his torso, the gap between his ribcage and hip bone.

Baz is screaming in pain, still, and I look down to find that blood is leaking down Simon's fingers where he has them pressed against Baz's side.

Maggie runs over to the four of us with a first aid kit and asks Simon to move while she bandaged the wound. Dev pulls Simon away from Baz while Maggie worked, squeezing him reassuringly while he cried.

I kneel down beside Baz and wipe the sweat off his brow. His skin is cold and clammy, which is when I know he's going to pass out. Maggie has covered up the wound and is applying pressure to the bandages when she looks to all of us.

"He needs to go to the hospital!" Simon yells. He's visibly trembling in Dev's arms. Maggie looks between Simon, Dev and I before grabbing something out of her pocket.

"Here," She says, handing me her car keys. "Drive him back to Watford and the doctors there can look at him. You should be there in a couple hours at most."

"All three of us are going back." I say. If she thinks that Dev and I are about to leave our best mate like this, the she can go to hell. To my surprise she doesn't argue and nods. I guess she feels bad enough about all of this.

Baz is still drifting in and out of consciousness, so the next time he shows himself to be conscious, the three of us do our best to haul him in to the back seat while Maggie holds the door open for us.

Simon slams the drivers side door and rams the gas pedal. Dev is seated in the back with Baz and I can see him pressing his hand to the wound for Baz.

The drive feels a lot longer than it should have, I can't imagine what it must have been like for Baz. I get out of the front seat and open the side door for Dev and Baz. Simon opens the opposite side door.

Baz's eyes are half lidded and drool is running down the side of his mouth, Simon wipes it away with his thumb. "Can you try to walk, love?" He asks. My heart swells just hearing Simon talk like that to my best mate. I'm so happy he found someone for him.

"I can try." Baz's voice is rough from lack of use. "We'll help you." I offer. Baz does his best to climb out of the car, but winces and lets out a small cry of pain when he has to move his torso.

"I can call a doctor over here," Dev says before disappearing in to the Watford campus doors. Dev reappears a few minutes later with a woman trailing behind him. The three of us back up and let her poke her head in to the car to do whatever she needs to.

With in a few minutes, one of the other campus doctors come through the doors with a wheelchair. They help Baz in to it and wheel him in to the building.

They take him in to a room for evaluation and treatment, allowing only one of us to go with him. Though it pains Dev and I, we decided that Simon could go with him. "Thank you guys both so much, you don't know how much this means."

I smile and so does Dev, because the way Simon acts about Baz is really sweet. "Don't mention it, he'll be out in a few minutes anyways." I tell him.

Dev and I sit down in the waiting area. He squeezes my hand and I turn towards him, to find he's already looking at me. Dev's silently crying and my heart cracks. I'm suddenly overwhelmed by all the tears I've been holding in and I let a few slip.

"I hope Baz will be okay." He says quietly. I squeeze Dev's hand. "He will. Don't worry. Simon's with him." Not exactly the most reassuring thing to say I'm sure, but at this point I'm trying to reassure myself. I'm praying that he's been through the worst of it.

"Niall," Dev says. His voice is followed by the painful silence that fills the waiting room. Tears are still streaming down Dev's face, but he doesn't make a move to wipe them away.

"Niall, when I saw the way Simon reacted, I couldn't help thinking of you, if what happened to Baz happened to you."

Dev's shoulders begin shaking while he cries harder. I pull him in to me and begin to cry too. If anything happened to Dev, especially after the events of yesterday, I don't know what I'd do.

"I'm so, so thankful for you, Niall." Dev breathes, and I wrap my arms even more tightly around him. "I love you." He says.

I pull back just enough to be able to kiss him. He kisses me back, matching the amount of force I'm kissing him with. I realize that everything I'm feeling right now, just the thought of anything happening to Dev…

I pull back and kiss Dev's temple, then smooth back the hair from his forehead. "I love you too, Dev. I love you, I love Baz, I think I even love Simon. But you're the only one I love in this-" I kiss him. "-kind of way."

 **Dev**

I lean my head on Niall's shoulder and he has one arm wrapped around my waist. Soon, a woman enters the waiting room. "Baz and Simon are back in their dorm rooms if you'd like to see them. I let Simon know you two might be coming up."

We thank her and walk to Simon and Baz's room. The door is open just a little bit and I push it open just a little more, incase they don't want to be disturbed. Baz is lying in his bed, looking at Simon, who is laying right next to him. I barely realise I'm smiling softly.

Simon presses his lips to Baz's cheek, letting them linger for a while. Baz does his best to smile, but instead wraps the arm closest to Simon around his waist. Simon closes his eyes next to Baz.

I open the door completely now, trying to make a sound that will alert them of our presence. Baz's eyes open slowly and he gives Niall and I an open mouthed grin, letting his fangs show.

Baz told Niall and I about him being a vampire after the campfire yesterday. Baz waited until after the campfire was over to tell us. He wasn't ready to tell Penelope or Agatha yet. Of course Niall and I respect that, given the fact that he was turned.

Baz is still grinning at us when we walk in, and Simon remains pressed against him. "How are you feeling, mate?" Niall asks as he kneels down next to the bed. Baz lifts a hand to ruffle Niall's hair and it makes me laugh, just because of how happy Baz is acting.

"I don't want you guys worrying about me, that goes for all three of you." Baz says, and just like that he is blinking back tears. I nearly lunge for a hug, until realising that would do more harm than good. "Baz, don't cry! We love you, mate." I say, and kneel next to Niall at the edge of the bed.

Tears start sliding down Baz's cheeks, but he's smiling through them. "I love both of you, too. I just hate the fact that you had to deal with a scare like this." Simon leans on one elbow so he can see all of us, then smiles.

A sudden urge comes over me to tell Simon and Baz about Niall. Niall and I.

I look at Niall with question in my eyes and he grabs my hand. Simon and Baz wouldn't be able to see from where they are perched on the bed. He is searching my eyes for something, I only squeeze his hand for more reassurance.

Niall gives me a subtle nod, before we both turn back to look at the two people in front of us. "What was that about?" Baz says, amusement dancing in his eyes. I can't think of a better way to explain it to Simon and Baz, so I take Niall's face between my hands and kiss him.

Baz groans from where he lies on the bed. I panic and look at Niall. Baz groans again. "I wish I could actually move so I could hug the hell out of you both!" Simon laughs from behind Baz, then hops off the bed and wraps the both of us in a hug.

"I'm really happy for you two. When did this happen?" I can feel my face redden. "Yesterday." I mumble. "That's amazing! You've been friends for years I can imagine, and that sort of relationship blossoming into something more is just beautiful."

"Awww," Baz starts. "I'm so happy the three of you are getting along! Also, try not to leave me out too much. My love and my two best mates that I also love, not at each other's throats? Oh crowley what did I do to deserve this?"

Niall laughs. "You're half dead and you can still act like a little prat." Baz laughs too, then winces and puts a hand on his wound. Simon kneels next to Niall and I, so Baz doesn't have to move to look at any of us.

Baz smiles at us once again, and tears well up in his eyes.

"What is it, Baz? Don't cry again!" I say, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He doesn't stop smiling. "I just want all three of you to remember something. Remember that I love the hell out of you."


	10. Joy to the World

**Simon**

It's been a good week or two since the accident, where Baz nearly got himself killed and the four of us rushed back to campus.

Dev, Niall, Baz and I have had the boys dorms all to ourselves for the time being. For the most part, Baz is healed (Thank Crowley) so Dev and Niall have been coming in and out of our room often the past few days, where we've played a series of _questionable_ games.

It's just past lunchtime. The four of us just got back from the cafeteria where Baz shunned me for eating scones at lunch. There weren't any scones at breakfast, so the cook told me that some would be waiting for me at lunch if I still wanted them. Of course I still wanted them. Cherry scones. Crowley.

Once we made our way back to the boys dorms, Dev and Niall migrated over to their room where they are currently doing God knows what.

Once Baz and I get to our room, I shut the door and plop down on my bed with a sigh. "I'm bored as shit." I say. Baz lets out a half hearted chuckle. "I'm bored as fucking hell too, Simon." I can't help but smile when Baz sits himself down on the side of my bed next to my head.

His hand begins to thread itself through the curls on the top of my head, and I can't help but close my eyes and lean in to the touch. When he stops I open my eyes again, to see that Baz moved to lie next to me, his head propped up on his hand to look down at me.

I wrap my hands around his back and pull Baz down until he decides to press his lips to mine, sighing happily. "I love you so much it hurts," Baz murmurs on to my lips. I can feel the faint smile playing on his.

He lifts his head just enough to be able to look into my eyes clearly. I clear my throat. "You are my Joy, my happiness, Baz. I love you to every end," I pause to tuck a stray strand of inky hair behind his ear. "No way in hell that'll ever change." I say.

The first thing I see is a lopsided grin plastering itself on Baz's face before he leans down and kisses me with all the love in the world.

And all I can do is give all of that love right back. All of my love right back. Because I know that every time Baz says he loves me, he really means it. Every time that he says he has _been_ loving me, for years when I had no idea, I know he means all of it.

So every time that Baz kisses me like this, I want to do everything I can to show Baz he is so loved, so appreciated, and that I'll never let him go.

We are interrupted by the sound of our door being pushed open, then slammed back shut again. "SHIT! SORRY!" Someone yells from the other side. I'd guess it was Dev. Baz and I break apart with a groan.

The door reopens just enough for Dev to see through. "Can we come in?" I sigh. "Yeah." Baz says. Dev and Niall saunter in and seat themselves in the bed opposite from the one Baz and I are currently in.

Niall is looking just bout everywhere but our eyes, a blush visibly creeping up his neck. "Uh, Niall…?" I say. He looks down at his shoes, so does Dev. "You two okay?" I ask the both of them this time. Niall's eyes flick towards us this time. "You're not mad?" He says.

 _What?_ "Um… no. Should I be?" Dev lets out a snort that sounds suspiciously like a laugh. "You aren't mad that we caught you-" He's cut off by Niall elbowing him in the stomach. They lock eyes and glare at each other until Dev cracks a smile and begins to laugh.

 **Baz**

"Oh my fucking God." I can't help it. Dev and Niall actually thought they caught Simon and I, well, _in the act_. "You two are awful." I groan. "We were just kissing, and happened to be in a weird position. And you two can't say shit because you're not any better than us."

"What do you guys wanna do?" Simon asks. "I'm bored as shit, I probably mentioned that a couple times as is, and I need _something_ to do before I go insane." Dev sprawls himself across the expanse of the bed that Niall isn't already sitting on. "I agree." He says, lifting a finger. "Why don't we play 20 questions or some dumb shit like that."

Better than nothing. "Let's just ask each other some questions. They can be as fucked up as you want, or as normal as you want. I don't give a damn at this point and neither do you, as long as we're all occupied." I say. No one objects so we begin.

"Dev, would you like to do the honours in starting this sad game?" He nods with a smirk. "I'll start off easy as not to kill you." Dev says.

Aaaaaand I'm _already_ ready to throw myself out the window when we haven't even begun. Please Crowley spare me my sanity.

"Hmmmmm" Dev's thinking face is making me nervous. Why is his face making me nervous. "Ooh!" He perks up, and his eyes land on me. I'm screwed. "Before I start," Dev begins. "You know you have to answer truthfully right?" I nod, scared for my life.

"Alright then, my first question is obviously for Baz. So you know that _thing_ that Niall and I thought we caught you two doing just now?" Dev says. "Unfortunately, yes." I deadpan. Dev look so amused it's starting to scare me. "How many times have you thought about doing _that thing_ with Simon?"

And there goes my sanity. Right out the door.

Simon unsuccessfully tries to cover the blush creeping across his face with his hand, but we can all see it. I don't even make a move to hide mine, because it's there and we all know it. "What happened to going _easy_ Dev?" I say. He only smiles at me. "Would you like a better question, because I'm sure my brain could come up with a more difficult one for you to answer than that." I glare at him. "Hell no." I say.

"At least we'll all be entertained!" Niall says. "It's probably not fun for you to answer Dev's question, but it'll be fun to watch us have to answer questions later on in the game."

I guess he's got a point. Dev is still looking at me with that amused smile plastered on his face. "You going to answer any time soon?" He asks. I put my hand on my forehead and sigh. "I've been in love with Simon for years, you think I'm really counting how many times I've thought about doing _that_ with him?" My sanity is long gone. I couldn't care less what Dev is thinking right now.

Simon looks about as uncomfortable as I feel. He looks at me sheepishly, his face redder than I've ever seen it. "Baz, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to." Simon tells me, his voice warm. I'd probably be saving him a ton of embarrassment, crowley knows what I've thought about doing with this beautiful boy.

"You have to answer," Dev says. "Or we'll go back to our rooms and you can stare at the wall for a couple hours." What's the worst that could happen at this point? There is honestly no point in counting.

I clear my throat, mumbling softly, praying no one can make out what I say. "Maybe a couple times a year at most." I look up only to meet eyes with a sheepish, wide eyed Simon Snow and a Dev that is grinning like a fox. Niall looks the same as he did before I answered.

Niall shrugs. "Sounds reasonable considering you were in love with him for that long." Thank crowley for Niall. "Oh. My. Fucking. God. Crowleyyyy Baz." Dev says. "Have you guys even got to doing that yet?"

"No!" Simon says at the same time I say "I'll kick your ass!" Dev starts cackling like a hyena. "I wouldn't be fucking laughing Dev, because it's my turn." I say. He doesn't stop smirking as I ask my question. "Well, my question goes out to my _best mate_ Dev. Have you and Niall gotten to doing _that_ yet." I'm hoping to regain bits of my sanity by avoiding _that_ word, even when I'm using it to embarrass the hell out of Dev.

Niall looks more flustered than Dev does. To my surprise he doesn't even hesitate in answering "Yeah,"

"I KNEW IT!" I yell. "You two are worse than us! HAHAHAHAH!" I feel a little tinge of guilt for dragging Niall in to this competitive game of ours, I feel bad for Simon too, because I could have all the fun in the world asking Dev these questions.

Niall cuts of my laughing. "Dev, it's your turn, try and be nice this time please." He leans over and kisses Niall on the cheek. I can't help but smile. "Okay," Dev starts. "Simon my question is for you."

 **Niall**

At this point I have completely given up hope that my boyfriend will show any sympathy towards Simon. Him and I have been dragged in to the wrath of Dev and Baz.

I see Baz turn towards Simon as Dev asks his question. "So, what is the thing that you want most right now?"

Thank God. Simon visibly relaxes as he realizes that the question isn't a death sentence like the previous few. He thinks about it for a minute.

"I wish that Penny could be here for Christmas." He says.

"Holy shit." I breathe. "Christmas is in a few days, I didn't even realize. Everyone is still on that damned camping trip. How long have they been there anyways?" I say.

Baz balls up a portion of the bed sheets in his fist. "If it weren't for my damn injury we'd probably be spending our Christmas in a tent." Everyone groans. "Thank Crowley for your injury then." I say.

"I've got an idea!" Simon says. "We can take Maggie's car down to the camping site and bust Penny out of there, then bring her back here for Christmas with us!"

"Hell yeah!" I say, jumping up from the position I was seated in earlier. Dev and Baz end up agreeing with our plan, and that's how we got ready for a not so thrilling sorta-kinda prison break.


	11. A Sky Full of Stars

**Baz**

I don't know why I agreed to this. Why any of us agreed to this. Maybe because the four of us were bored out of our minds without anything to do in the boys dorms.

But I really didn't think I'd be spending Christmas Eve in a red pickup truck, speeding through no-man's-land. Did I mention the pick up truck has no roof? I've never seen a pickup truck with no roof.

Thank Crowley Maggie has a five seater, though the three seats at the back are pretty cramped. Because I wasn't about to be in a two seater, Dev and Niall sharing a seat with me as we drove. I have no clue how Simon is expecting us to even get Penny out of the woods, let alone back to Watford before anyone realizes what happened.

"Alright," I start. "So what's the plan? And do you know where you're going?" Simon huffs. "Yes, I know where I'm going and we haven't really established a plan, have we…"

"Well, we better get to thinking then, mate." Dev chimes in from the back seat. Niall takes a moment to think. "Hey, Simon, didn't you say that Penny likes to bring her cell phone everywhere even when she could get in big shit for it?"

He nods. "Can't you like, text her telling her to meet us at the nearest road?" Niall says. Simon thinks about it, the car slowing down slightly as he makes a left. "Well, that'll work if there is any damn service around here."

"Shit." I mumble. We're screwed and we know it. "Wait, I have an idea," Dev says. He begins pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Baz take your phone out, I'm going to try to text you to check for service. You never know, there are a couple houses sprinkled in between the vast nothingness out here, you'd think the people out here might need service,"

I take my phone out, and to my surprise, the home screen chimes with an incoming text from _Lil Devil._ It worked.

I open my texts to read the message Dev sent to me, although there isn't a reason to. The text reads:

 _What'll it take for you to convince Simon to turn this truck around_

 _and take us to McDonalds? I promise I won't look while you do_

 _your 'convincing'..._

 _Thanks mate ;)_

The idiot. Somehow a smirk made it's way on to my face at how stupid my mates acted sometimes.

 **Dev**

I can see Baz's fingers flying across his phone as he types a reply. Simon is utterly clueless, his eyes focused on the road, high beams lighting up the darkened road. Niall is clueless as well, he has his head buried against my shoulder and with a glance at his face I notice his eyes are closed. Not sleeping, resting.

He's so cute when he's like this. Niall is definitely the more quiet out of the two of us, and seeing him curled against me, looking so peaceful, makes me soft. Waiting for Baz's reply, I lift a hand to Niall's hair and run my fingers through his soft blond curls, petting his hair lightly. He shifts slightly, leaning in to the touch, Niall's cheek pressed against my shoulder. With him being like this, it makes me want to be more affectionate with him, to give him back everything he gives me and more. I'm pulled from my thoughts as my phone chimes.

 _How about hell fucking no :) How about I convince Simon to drop you_

 _off on the nice curb right here, and you can crawl to McDonalds_

 _yourself? I like my coffee with milk. Don't worry, I'll pay you for_

 _it once you get back, I wouldn't want you pocketing any of my funds._

 _Send reply. Yes? No? Thanks a bunch mate ;)_

 _BTW you better say fucking yeah_

I did my best to stifle the laugh crawling up my throat. Instead I say, "Simon, the texts are working." He chuckles. "I could tell with the two of you snickering this entire time." Well then…

Simon chimes in again. "Baz, I think I gave you Penny's number right? Text her, telling her to get her ass out of there, to the road, we'll be there in a couple minutes."

 **Penny**

Thank God Maggie let us know we'll be back for Christmas. We've already spent our Christmas Eve down here, I can't take much more. Agatha came over to my tent when she finished packing, to help me out.

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and realise _BazzyBoi_ texted me, saying:

 _We're coming to get you the Hell out of here for Christmas._

 _Meet us at the closest curb, we'll pick you up. Simon, Dev_

 _And Niall are here too. Merry Christmas ;P_

These idiots. I grin like one. Only Simon would break his back trying to bust me out of this hellhole. Agatha peeks over my shoulder. "Who's texting you at this time?"

I figure there isn't any point in lying, we're both going to be out of here tonight anyways. "Baz and Simon are busting me out of here right now, they think we're gonna be stuck here for Christmas." I bite back my laugh, because these two are too sweet sometimes. I don't know how Simon was able to rope Dev and Niall in.

"Can I come too? I'd rather be going back with you guys than in a bus full of Watford kids." I'm sure it isn't a problem. I fire back a reply-

 _Agatha's coming._

-before turning my phone off, grabbing my stuff and getting the hell out of that place. Agatha actually leaves a note for Maggie and the staff, saying we got out safely and I can't help but laugh. I guess it's better that the staff know we didn't get mauled by a bear.

In a few minutes we're at the roadside and a car can be seen in the distance.

 **Simon**

"Fuck." Baz says. I snort. "What's gotten into you? Did Penny reply?" I say. I glance at Baz out of the corner of my eye and he sinks against his chair. "She said Agatha's coming. I got nothing against her, but I don't think I made it clear that we are in a five seater pickup truck. Dev and Niall, have fun back there!"

Dev groans and I slow the car to take a look at how they're faring in the back. Dev doesn't look happy with the news that four people will be crammed into three already small seats, but Niall leans in to his ear, gripping Dev's shoulder, and whispers something inaudible. Dev cheers up at whatever Niall whispered, then smiles and pecks Niall lightly.

"You two need to _stop_ being cute or I'll accidentally drive into a ravine." Dev laughs. "That's a bit much to ask of us, don't you think? We've got to handle you and Baz all the same though…" I can see the silhouette of two people standing in the distance, we're about a minute away.

"Well _Dev,_ I've been driving for a while and haven't been able to do _anything_ with Baz, though I wish I could." I feel Baz squeeze my shoulder lightly and I melt into him. "Love you." I mutter softly. He leans over to kiss my cheek. "Love you more," He mumbles next to my ear. I shiver slightly.

"See what I mean?" Dev says to Niall. He laughs softly. "You two are the same, if not worse with your sweet shit like that."

"Well," I start. "We're just about here, so we'll have to settle that argument another time." I pull over next to where Penny stands, opening the driver's side door.

I'm nearly knocked over as Penny drops her bags and lunges for me like a quarterback. I instantly wrap my arms around her. "Penny! I missed you!" She pulls back.

"Oh, you beautiful idiot," She says, then looks to where Dev, Niall and Baz are in the car. "You beautiful _idiots_!" She laughs, realizing the slight problem with the size of the car. "We'll make it work, but anyways, we were going to be let out today anyways! I'd rather be heading back with all of you though!"

"Same here." Agatha says. I'd almost forgot she was here. I walk over to her and give her a hug too. "Thanks, Simon," She whispers. I smile softly. "My pleasure."

The three of us turn back to the car. Baz is facing the road ahead, remaining in the passenger seat when he says, "I'm not moving." Penny whacks his shoulder lightly. "Only an idiot would think that you'd move for a lady, Baz." He laughs. "If I weren't _very_ gay, who knows, maybe I would move for a lady."

"Oh my _God_ , the four of you are _so_ gay." Dev flashes her a toothy grin.

"You know it!" He says. "Well uh, the both of you are going to have to sit back here, I don't know how this is going to work…" He starts.

I climb back into the driver's seat before twisting to look at the back seat. Baz does too. Our problems are solved when Niall slides in to Dev's lap and buries his face in his chest. Penny and Agatha slide in.

"WE WIN!" Baz says. "You two do more cutesy shit than we do! Hahah!" I high five him "You're right! We won!" I chuckle. Niall sighs. "Well. it fixed our problem didn't it? But fine, if it makes you happy." Penny and Agatha exchange puzzled looks, but don't question us, thank Crowley.

"You sure the two of you will be comfy like that?" Agatha asks. I can see the smile Niall has plastered on his face even against Dev's chest.

Dev puts his lips to the top of Niall's head, rubbing his thumb along the boy's neck. "We'll be just fine," He murmurs on to Niall's curls.

"The ravine, you two! I'm getting visions of driving into that ravine!" I chime in. Everyone laughs but Penny and Agatha, who glance at each other once again. "This is going to be a helluva long ride." Agatha says.

 **Dev**

We've been driving for a good half an hour, talking and laughing with each other, when Penny brings up something.

"Hey guys," She says. "Since we've gotten back to _civilization_ , can't we stop by a convenient store or a supermarket, I need to get you guys some Christmas gifts!"

"Oh right," Baz says. Shit. "I think we need to get some." I say, then kiss Niall's forehead. "Yep. I need a gift for this one right here," Niall shifts in my arms. "Plus my best mate, and his boyfriend, then you two lovely ladies of course."

Penny leans her head on my shoulder briefly, smiling. "Love you too, Dev." I smile back at her. "Hey," Simon starts, "I don't think we're going to be able to find 30 different gifts at a supermarket, so why don't we draw names or something? Everyone will get one gift out of it."

That sounds like a good idea. "I like it, also considering the fact that I'm not a bank, I might just go bankrupt buying five gifts."

"Same here." Penny says, snorting. "Does everyone have money on them?" She asks. Everyone nods and makes it clear they have at least a few dollars to spare. "Alright give me a second," I say, rummaging through my pocket. "Here!" I fish out an old bill from my pocket and Agatha hands me a pen.

I scribble everyone's name down and rip the bill in to six pieces. Simon pulls in to a parking lot a few minutes later, a small supermarket was easy to spot in the dead of night, because any shop with it's lights on during Christmas Eve is just crazy. Looks like we struck gold considering this is probably the only place in the country that is actually open tonight.

"Alright," I stick my cupped palms in the middle of the truck. "Everyone hurry up and pick a name, I have to pee so I'm going in first. Actually, I guess the back row can go in first. Niall, Penny and Agatha can come with me."

Everyone draws a slip of paper from my hands. I angle myself away from everyone and read the name on my slip

 _Penny_

Not my first choice, but I think I know her well enough to pick something out. Niall climbs out of the car first, followed by Agatha, Penny and I.

"Alright," Agatha stops everyone before getting in to the store. "Do your best to stay away from everyone else while you're shopping, use the time that Dev is peeing wisely. If you can find something before he's done that's great."

It takes me a good minute to actually find the restrooms. Once I finish and wash up I notice Niall and Penny have already finished and are waiting by the door, far enough from the checkout that they couldn't see what Agatha and I purchase.

Penny isn't holding a bag, but I don't question it.

After a few minutes of searching around, I settle on some purple hair dye. Penny always dyes the ends of her hair different colours. Right now the ends of her hair are red. I throw in a pair of gold hoop earrings incase she doesn't like the colour.

Agatha checks out a minute later and we all head back to the car. Penny yanks on the back of my coat, along with Niall's and Agatha's to get us to halt our walking. "Look at the two lovebirds." She says. I stifle a laugh when I notice that Simon and Baz are making out in the passenger seat. No way in hell they won.

I muster up the loudest voice I can. "YOU LOSE MATE!" I yell. They both look up, searching the dark for where the voice came from, until Baz's eyes settle on me and my smirk. He gives me a vulgar gesture and kisses Simon one more time.

I run the rest of the way to the car. Agatha, Penny and Niall catch up a few seconds later. "What," Simon mumbles. "I've been driving this entire time, can't you allow us _this?_ I don't care what you say, we still won. You two have been doing sweet shit the entire ride."

I can't help myself. Another smirk creeps onto my face. "And if _I_ was driving? I'd bet you two'd be making out the entire trip." Baz turns as pink as a vampire would be able to and turns away from us before opening the door. "Well, it's our turn."

 **Agatha**

Simon and Baz aren't very long in the store. They return in a few minutes. It's only a few more minutes before we're back at campus. Thank Crowley. That trip was nothing short of hell on earth.

Once everyone gets out of the car I give Simon another hug because I don't know what I would have done if he didn't drive us out of there.

"Happy Christmas Eve!" I say. "Goodnight everyone! See you tomorrow morning in… Simon and Baz's room I guess? With your gifts. We'll exchange them before breakfast." Everyone nods.

"That was pretty fun I have to say," Dev starts. "But this game needs to be settled. Ladies, you'll need to be the tiebreakers… so take a moment to decide who is the more obnoxiously sweet couple."

"Uh, who wins?" Penny asks. "The less sweet couple." Dev answers.

I have an answer pretty quick. "My votes on Dev and Niall for sweetest couple, you two are definitely more about the public displays of affection than these two dorks." I gesture to Simon and Baz. "Noooo." Dev moans.

"Well that's just based on this car ride of course, considering the two of you forgot Penny and I had no clue about you until tonight."

"Oh shit." Niall says. "I guess we were just that comfortable we forgot we hadn't told you two."

"Yep that's it," Penny says. "My votes on you two as well. You couldn't have been together more than about two, three weeks and you're already enough to give me cavities."

"Welp, guess you two win." Niall says. "Fair and square." I almost lose it when the four boys shake hands like after a sports match, muttering _good game._

I smile at everyone. "See you in the morning!"


	12. A Night to Remember

**Hey everyone! It's Bushee! This will be the final chapter of Into The Woods! I just wanted to let all of you know how grateful I am for your comments, and even the fact that you've clicked on one of my works, making it this far. It's been a long journey writing this fic and though I'm sad to have it come to an end, it's been super fun to write! You should all know ho much it means to me that you've liked this work enough to get to the final chapter... without further ado, enjoy!**

 **Baz**

It's still shocking to me, waking up beside the love of your life, that is. The moment Simon realizes that I've woken up he brushes his hand across my cheek and presses his lips to mine lightly.

"Morning, love," Simon starts. "Merry Christmas." I pull him down for another kiss and feel a smile playing on his lips as he happily complies.

"Everyone will be over here soon." I say. Simon nods and walks towards our dresser, opening it up and pulling out some clothes. He tosses me a shirt and some sweatpants. I don't think Dev could give a crap about what I'm wearing at this time of morning, neither do I.

Simon peels of his shirt and I force my eyes elsewhere as he changes. I change as well, facing the opposite direction of Simon before sitting back on to my bed.

Eventually, I realize it's probably a good idea to brush my teeth before everyone arrives at our room, so I make my way over to the bathroom.

I do my best to fix up my hair in the bathroom mirror (it's quite disgusting in the morning) while my toothbrush falls out of my mouth and into the sink.

Simon laughs as I give the toothbrush a vulgar gesture, telling it to fuck off. I didn't spot him in the doorframe. He walks in and starts to brush his teeth too, making sure to give me the space I need, as I'm still doing my best to fix my mop of hair.

A few seconds later, there are a couple knocks at the door, Simon and I leave the bathroom only to witness the door being practically knocked down with a loud bang, Penny and Agatha being shoved in by Dev and Niall.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Simon rushes over to where Penny and Agatha stumbled to.

All four of them look out of breath and pale. "Holy shit," Niall starts. "We almost got caught smuggling two girls in to the boys dorms. That's what happened. We practically flew at the first sign of someone. Crowley that could've ended badly."

I can't keep a smirk from my face. "You four are just big dramatics, aren't you?" I say. Penny laughs and everyone smiles.

"Let's get to the gifts!" Agatha says, placing down bags and items that account for all four of them. I grab my own gift from underneath my bed and place it on the floor, Simon does the same with his.

Everyone sits in a circle around the pile of gifts covering the ground. I sit next to Simon, and next to him is Penny and Agatha. On my other side is Dev then Niall.

Niall eyes the pile on the ground, thinking. "How do we decide who goes first?"

 **Simon**

"I can go first," I start. "Whoever I got can give their gift away next, we'll do that until we finish every one."

Everyone agrees and I grab my gift from the pile. "Who'd you get, Si?" Penny asks. I can't help but smile. I just about struck gold with my pick. I hand my gift over to Baz, who is sitting directly to my right.

Baz smiles too when he realizes that I was the perfect person to draw his name. I covered my gift in snowflake wrapping paper, I figured it'd be funny since Baz would always call me Snow. He still does occasionally, it's only been a short time since we got together.

Baz looks up at me with amusement dancing in his eyes, and it's like a silent joke passes between the two of us. I watch as he starts tearing the wrapping paper, until he uncovers a pair of black jeans.

"Simon," Baz is grinning like a cat. "How the hell did you know I needed a pair of jeans?" I'm glad he seems to really like them.

"I didn't know you needed a pair. After we got together during the camping trip there was a day you wore blue jeans. I liked them on you."

Dev starts cackling while everyone else grins. "At least you know that your boyfriend likes to stare at your ass, Baz!" That gets everyone else laughing, including myself and Baz. You'd think the comment would make me embarrassed, but I laugh because it's more than partially true.

Baz pauses his laughing abruptly and pulls me in for a passionate kiss. "I love them, thank you Simon." He murmurs.

"Aw!" Penny squeals. "You two are fucking _adorable_ , stop making me jealous. I swear to god if Dev and Niall start this shit-"

"We'll see…" Dev says, wrapping his arm around Niall's shoulders. Dev leaves a peck on Niall's cheek and suddenly I can spot a blush rising on his neck.

"Well," I say. "It's your turn Baz." He reaches in to the pile of gifts and grabs one. The gift is in a bag with roses on it. I think it's safe to assume that he got either Penny or Agatha, unless he wanted to piss Dev off.

Baz hands the bag over to Agatha and she smiles down at it. "I was sure Penny got me." She says, smirking at Baz. Agatha turns to Penny. "I thought you'd tried to trick me when you came out of the store without a bag."

"Mm you'll find out what I did soon enough." Penny says.

 **Agatha**

I put my hand in to the bag and pull out a small box. I'd feel pretty bad for Baz, having to shop for a girl, considering he doesn't seem to have any interest in women. Romantically, that is.

I open up the box to find a silver chain necklace. On the end is a monarch butterfly, the wings shine orange and black just like the real thing. I love it. I don't have a clue how Baz was able to pick out something like this for me.

I look across the circle to where Baz is sitting. His hair falls over his eyes, he's looking almost _embarrassed_. "Baz I- it's lovely." I'm not sure why I start to tear up, maybe because I realize that it must've been hard doing something like this. Buying your boyfriends ex a gift.

I pull the necklace out of the box and move to clasp it around my neck. Then I crawl across the circle to wrap Baz in a hug. I just barely caught the smile on his face before I hugged him.

"Thank you Baz, I really mean it when I say it's lovely." I pull away and give Baz another close lipped smile. He returns it happily.

I glance at Simon, and he's smiling softly too. He makes a move to grab my wrist. "Why're you crying, Agatha?" He doesn't say it to mock me at all, Simon looks concerned.

My hands instantly fly up to my face and touch my cheek to find they are indeed wet with tears. "Oh uh," I start. "It's just, I know it was probably really hard for you Baz, to have to get something for your boyfriends ex, that's all. I didn't want to come between what you guys have, I want nothing but for everyone here to be happy. I know you two really love each other."

I tense as both Simon and Baz make a move to wrap their arms around me. I immediately loosen up and melt in to the touch. "We love you too, Agatha." Baz says. "Don't ever think I'm anything but grateful for what you did during that trip."

Baz lets go, but Simon keeps his arms around me. "When you tried to let me off the hook after seeing Baz and I in the woods, I was overwhelmed after the two of us really did get together. You realized it even before I did, and didn't try to keep me to yourself. I'm so, _so_ lucky to have you in my life Agatha."

I know my face isn't in the best shape when we pull apart, Simon's words made me even more emotional. I squeeze Baz's shoulder once, giving him another little smile before sitting back down beside Penny.

Dev and Niall haven't said a word, they probably figured that there was nothing _to_ say. Penny grabs my hand and squeezes, letting go of it once she realizes that I'm okay.

It's my turn now, so I reach for the biggest gift in the pile. Everyone looks at me anxiously and I grin down at the gift sitting in my lap. What I picked out is more of a joke, but I hope Niall will like it.

 **Niall**

I stare with wide eyes as Agatha hands me a huge box. Picking it up, I realize that the gift is surprisingly light for its size. Glancing at Agatha once again, I can tell she's suppressing a laugh.

The box isn't wrapped, it's already got a christmas design on it. I pull off a few pieces of tape from the side and can't help the giggle that escapes me as I look at what's staring back at me.

Agatha leans over and puts a hand on my knee, still laughing a little. "I thought that it'd be kinda funny to get you that, because from one car ride I could tell you like to sleep a _lot._ "

I pull out the blue pillow from the box and squeeze it against my chest. "Damn Agatha, why is this pillow ten times more comfortable than the shit ones we have?"

"I was just getting to that…" Agatha starts. "I figured that with all of the sleep you were doing during the car ride, you'd need a better pillow than the shitty ones that are provided at Watford."

Baz puts his hands up in the air in defeat. "I don't know how the hell Agatha knows Niall so well after an hour in a car together."

She chuckles and I do too. "I _also_ figured out from that car ride, that Dev probably doesn't want to be a pillow for the rest of his life, so I got one for you."

Now Dev laughs, pulling Niall into him. "I can be your pillow whenever you'd like, but I guess that even us pieces of furniture need a break once in a while."

I lean over and envelope Agatha in a hug. "Thank you, I don't think you realized how much I'm going to _love_ this."

Agatha ruffles my already messy hair and smirks. "No problem, Niall."

I move to place the pillow behind me before reaching over to grab one of the three remaining gifts. Mine is in a plain red bag. The store was nearly out, but it was the best I could do.

I hand the bag over to Dev with a small smile.

 **Dev**

I couldn't be happier when Niall hands me his gift bag. The bag is an average size, just about anything could be in here, knowing Niall.

I stick my hand in without looking at what I'm grabbing and Baz starts laughing before I can even see what I've pulled out. Soon enough Simon and Penny have joined in with the laughter and eventually Agatha does too.

I realize that I'm holding a black beanie. I flip it around, trying to figure out why everyone is pissing themselves with laughter, until I read what is sprawled across the front of the hat.

 _Happy camper_

Soon enough I join in to the laughter, leave it to my boyfriend to get us all laughing about a few weeks of hell.

"You all know I'm going to be wearing this every day for the next year." I say and pull Niall in for a kiss. I love him so much. I love his gift because only he'd think to get me something like this.

"There's something else." Niall tells me. I kiss him again before pulling away.

"What did I tell you!" Penny says. I do my best to hold in a laugh, and it ends up turning into more of a snort before I give in.

"I'm sorry!" I laugh. "I love my boyfriend, I'm going to kiss him!" Penny sighs in defeat.

I reach in to the bag and pull out a baby blue scarf. It's perfect. I can't even remember how long it's been since I'd mentioned to anyone that baby blue is my favourite colour.

I practically tackle Niall with another hug, speaking softly. "It's just perfect. I love it, Niall. You remembered my favourite colour."

He kisses my cheek. Of course I'd remember your favourite colour! I love you, Dev." I nearly faint when Niall makes a move to kiss _me._ It's almost always me who's the first person to make a move. My heart swells at the thought of Niall becoming more confident with me.

Once I pull away, it takes me no time to grab my bag and hand it over to Penny.

 **Penny**

I can't help but smile as Dev hands me his gift. I'd figured it out after Niall gave his gift away. Mine is the last one in the circle.

It's a little bag with a smiley snowman on it. "Love the bag," I say. "You're off to a good start, Dev."

I peer into it and pull out the first thing I see. It's a bottle. I'd recognize it anywhere. A smile creeps onto my face as I read the label to everyone else.

"Purple hair dye. You know me damn well Dev, I'm shocked. I was going to change the colour of my hair after Christmas, looks like you beat me to it."

"Thank crowley you like it, I had no clue what you'd want from me." Dev says. I lean over and punch his knee lightly.

"Have some confidence, man. I love it, expect to see the ends of my hair purple in a couple days."

I can tell Dev is really happy with the reaction his gift got out me, and he's definitely relieved that I like it. It's almost a given fact that if it'll help my hair, I'll love it.

I reach in to the bag, because I'd spotted something else before grabbing the hair dye. It's a small box, probably containing jewelry.

I open it to find a pair of hoop earrings inside, a little pearl like bead attached to each one. "Dev!" I say, my face probably reflects everything I'm feeling right now. He blushes slightly.

"I got my ears pierced a couple weeks ago, I needed a pair that's better than the shit earrings I have. These are beautiful! Thank you so much, I love your gift."

I hug Dev, and he hugs back right away. "It's almost funny how relieved you are that I love your gift. Did you really think I wouldn't like it?"

"Well," He starts. "I got you two things, hoping that if you didn't like one, you'd like the other for sure. I'm so glad you like both."

I kiss his cheek and he blushes harder. "Of course, Dev. Thank you."

 **Simon**

I grin at Penny when she picks up the last gift in the pile and hands it over to me. It's a plain white box, and I know that whatever is inside I'm going to love.

"I'm curious about this one." Agatha says before giving the box a confused glance.

"Me too," Niall says. "For Baz and Simon who have no clue what we mean, Penny walked out of the store without a bag. We have no clue what the hell is in there."

A mystery, even better. It's so like my best friend to try and throw everyone off. The box is fairly big in size, almost as big as the box Niall's pillow was in. It's a little smaller height-wise though.

Everyone is quiet as I pull the lid off. I look into the box, then close it again before lunging for Penny and laughing like a lunatic.

"I fucking love you Penny, so much. I love what's in that box, too. Where the hell did you buy that many scones if you didn't get them at the store we went to? Every other place must've been closed."

Penny pulls me to her and ruffles my hair. "I'd only want the best for you, Simon, so last night I went down to the cafeteria and asked the cooks if they'd help me make some scones for you. They didn't seem too thrilled about it, but I got it done. There you have it!"

"You've created a monster." Baz laughs.

"Penny I can't believe you made these!I would've been ecstatic with just store bought ones, but home made scones, even better! Especially since my best friend made them!"

"What can a friend do but feed your scone addiction, Simon? I made a couple of different flavours, those should last you a few days, _I hope._ "

"Mm, I doubt that." Baz says.

"We all know those scones aren't going to live see tomorrow." Dev chuckles. "That was real nice of you, Penny."

"Love you lots, Penny." Simon hugs me again.

"I wouldn't be to thrilled yet," I start. "Remember who made those, they'll probably taste like balls of shit. I can't bake for shit, so all I can do is pray they'll taste okay."

"Penny, I'm going to love these even if they do taste like balls of shit, because they'll be _lovely_ balls of shit. If they even taste like shit. Which I'm sure they'll taste amazing. Thank you so much, Penny!"

I sit back where I was originally. "That actually turned out great! I'm glad that everyone is happy with their gifts. Now, I think we should all get some breakfast."

Everyone nods and agrees. "Are all of you coming out to see the fireworks later?" I ask.

"What?" Penny says. I figured that not everyone knew about this.

"Watford is going to be putting on a small firework display once it gets dark, just in front of campus. You coming?"

"If you are, of course I am!" Penny says. Agatha, Dev, and Niall tell us that they will be there as well. Once everyone leaves with their gifts, Baz and I head down for breakfast and later head off to attend some of the Christmas celebrations happening around the school.

 **Baz**

As the sky darkens, Simon and I head out to the front of campus. Some of the students have already laid out blankets on the grass. Others are sitting down talking with their friends. Simon and I sit where we find an empty spot, near the centre of where everyone else is seated.

The only light that we're getting out here is from the campus building that isn't too far off, which doesn't make seeing very difficult.

I spot Dev and Niall sitting a small distance away from where Simon and I sit. It makes me smile when Dev leans his head against Niall's chest. I'd expected them to come looking for us, but I won't deny that I'll be happy spending the night with Simon.

After a while, it is announced that the fireworks will start in a minute. Simon nuzzles his head in to my neck and I wrap a blanket around the both of us.

I spot Penny in the distance and she meets my eyes. She mouths something along the lines of _It's okay,_ and points to Simon before sitting with Agatha a little ways away.

I'm going to assume that she means to let us get some not so private alone time, but I'll take what I can get.

Soon the fireworks begin and Simon shifts his head so he's still leaning against me, but he'll be able to see the lights.

Flashes of blue, red, yellow and every colour you could imagine light up the sky. Simon moves to kiss my cheek and mutters, "I love you so much, Baz." before focusing back on the sky.

I turn his gaze back to me and kiss Simon with all of the love that has been bottled inside me for years, the love that I've finally been able to show him.

"I love you more than this world, Simon. You mean everything to me." Suddenly the sky lights up with a pink heart. Simon and I both notice Dev and Niall with their foreheads pressed together.

Dev mutters something before Niall kisses him, similar to what Simon and I just did.

It makes me so happy that the four of us found happiness during that camping trip. That we found love. The fireworks continue to spark in the distance.

Simon puts his hand on my cheek. "Who new that a trip into the woods could change our lives forever," He says, before taking me by the back of the neck.


End file.
